WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1587/97 by Bertel HAARDER to the Commission. Market definitions for interconnection in telecommunications
Date: 1997-05-05
Institutions: European Parliament, HAARDER
Subjects: market research, public sector, radio telecommunications, services contract, single market, systems interconnection, telecommunications, telephone













EUR-Lex - 91997E1587 - EN






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91997E1587

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1587/97 by Bertel HAARDER to the Commission. Market definitions for interconnection in telecommunications  


Official Journal C 373 , 09/12/1997 P. 0148 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-1587/97 by Bertel Haarder (ELDR) to the Commission (5 May 1997)Subject: Market definitions for interconnection in telecommunicationsArticle 4(3) of the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring universal service and interoperability through application of the principles of ONP (Common position 34/96 ((OJ C 220, 29.7.1996, p. 13. ))) states that an organization is presumed to have significant market power when it has a share of more than 25% of a particular telecommunications market in the geographical area of a Member State within which it is authorized to operate. The Commission opinion pursuant to Article 189b(2(d)) of the EC Treaty on the European Parliament's amendments to the Council's common position on the proposal (COM(96)535) revised the wording of Article 7(2) so that the crucial factor is that the national regulatory authorities have informed the organizations offering public mobile telephone networks that they have significant market power on the national market for interconnection.Can the Commission confirm that the two market definitions are not identical?Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (29 May 1997)Article 4(3) of the draft interconnection directive defines the general criteria for a national regulatory authority to apply when determining whether an organisation has significant market power. The assessment must be made on the basis of: 'the particular telecommunications market in the geographical area in a Member State within which it (ie the organisation) is authorized to operate'.Article 7(2), last sentence, reads: 'This paragraph shall also apply to organisations set out in part 3 of Annex I (ie public mobile telephony operators) which have been notified by national regulatory authorities as having significant market power on the national market for interconnection'. This is the wording as set out in the amended proposal of the Commission ((COM(96) 535. )) as now included in the joint text agreed by the Parliament and the Council in the conciliation meeting held on 19 March 1997.In general, when considering whether or not to designate an organisation as having significant market power, the national regulatory authority has to decide what the relevant market is, taking into account the precise nature of the obligations laid down in the directive. In the specific case of obligations on mobile operators in Article 7(2), the draft directive requires that the relevant market be considered as the national market for interconnection (ie the market for fixed and mobile interconnection combined).The Commission confirms that the market definition laid down in Article 7(2) applies only to Article 7(2), and that a different definition of the relevant market, in accordance with Article 4(3), will be appropriate for other articles of the directive.